Rating: 4 out of 5.

This is a cozy mystery with colorful characters, plenty of twists, and a quirky English village as a backdrop. Former comic Juno has returned to England to care for her elderly mother who is engaged to a smarmy man who may or may not be a wife-killer. She hopes her friend Phoebe, who is a disgraced journalist turned novelist, can help her figure out if her mother’s fiance is hiding a murderous past. But before the duo can get into that mystery, an local art dealer washes up dead on the village’s famous river bank. Thus is the origin story of The Village Detectives.

The book is written well and flows easily, although it did get a bit bogged down in the middle. Since this is the first book in the series, it’s understandable since the author has to introduce the characters and build the world in which the rest of the series will live. Selfishly I was hoping there would be more colorful characters in the book, but there is room to grow in future books. Juno’s mother and fiance are a hoot and I suppose it would have been overkill to have more than them providing comic relief.

The mystery was intriguing and the author provided plenty of red herrings to confuse the reader. I admit it took me awhile to figure out the culprit, which is testament to the author’s skill. I think this series is going to be fun to explore and look forward to reading future books.

I was provided an e-copy of this book from Rachel’s Random Resources and Boldwood Books. All opinions are my own.